This invention relates to providing synchronization and duplication of registry information as between a local platform and its facilities and a remote platform and its facilities.
In database management, there is the concept of a xe2x80x9ckeyxe2x80x9d which is an identifier for a record or group of records in a data file, most often the key is defined as the contents of a single field called the xe2x80x9ckey fieldxe2x80x9d in some database management programs and called xe2x80x9cthe index fieldxe2x80x9d in others. In most database management systems, the keys (meaning the contents of a single key field or the composite key) are maintained in key tables which are specially indexed to speed record retrieval. In many database management systems, these key tables are called index files.
A key field is a field in a record structure or an attribute of a relational table that has been designated to be part of a key. A field can be keyed (or indexed) to improve or simplify the performance of retrieval and/or to update operations.
A key word is a characteristic word, phrase or code that is stored in a key field and used to conduct sorting or searching operations on records. This also applies to any of the dozens of words (also known as reserved words) that compose a given programing language or a set of operating system routines.
There is a factor called the xe2x80x9ckey word-in-contextxe2x80x9d which describes an automatic search methodology that creates indexes of document text or titles. Each key word is stored in the resulting index along with some surrounding text, usually the word or phrase that proceeds or follows the key word in the text or title.
In present day networks, there is a common configuration used in order to provide a local platform with facilities connected through a local area network over to a remote platform and remote facilities. The remote platform and facilities are generally used as a backup system should the local platform and facilities fail. In such a case, then the operations are transferred to the remote platform and facilities in order that operations may be carried on. However, it is necessary that the remote platform and facilities be in synchronism or have data duplication of the local platform and facilities so that proper operations can occur without using invalid stale data or using data that is no longer correct.
In Windows Operating Systems there is a database designated as the Registry. This Registry database holds all varieties of information from system configurations to performance data to data about the applications available for use in the NT platform. This Registry is kept as a secured file on disk and a typical Registry is illustrated in FIG. 2. The Registry can also be held in memory in addition to the disk file. Each item in the Registry is designated as a Registry Key.
In the earlier practice, in these situations involving a local platform and a remote backup platform, it was necessary for the user or operator to specifically provide for manually backing-up the Registry keys so that the remote platform would be updated with the present information residing in the local platform. These backup situations often required that certain periods of time, say during the night, or other times, could be used to transfer the data from the local program to the backup program when the time was available. However, this took considerable periods of time and effort to accomplish and there was always certain periods wherein there was no synchronization or duplication between the remote platform and the local platform.
The present invention eliminates the need to manually backup Registry keys. By scripting the object, which is the Component Object Model (COM) involved, one can automate the whole process with minimum operator effort and time consumption so that the remote platform will always hold the most up-to-date information. Thus, any applications that keep their settings and other vital information in the local Registry of the local platform can easily make themselves suitable for a fail-over strategy without worrying how the registry data are replicated and maintained in the remote standby platform.
The present invention introduces a Component Object Model (COM) component that monitors a user-specified Registry on the local computer platform by duplicating the Registry keys over to a remote machine platform and instantly updating it whenever the monitored local key (including its values and subkeys) is modified.
A mechanism and method is provided (exposed through a COM object) to backup a specific Registry key from a local computer to a remote computer in order to synchronize the data involved upon the occurrence of any changes.
Most windows applications today make use of the Registry in various different ways, and it is possible to use the described COM object to provide backup so that the remote or destination platform will always store a duplicate copy of the local registry key and be available should any problem occur within the local source platform.
In a fail-over environment where the remote machine platform serves as a standby unit for the local machine platform, in case the local machine fails, this mechanism and method allows fail-over applications on the remote system to have the same Registry settings as that found on the local system platform. Thus, instant synchronism of Registry keys and subkeys are maintained at all times.